I am the bookstore diva at the exciting Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA. This place rules! Right now we have an exhibit featuring the original art of Dave Gibbons and items from the new movie the Watchmen! Whoa! As a girl who was blown away by those books way back in the eighties this is like a religious experience. I admit it I almost cried when I walked in there the first time... no really.
The other shows we have going on are also very, very awe inspiring. We have the work of Gene Colan which is just amazing to see. All the detail in his work is breathtaking. Then there is Stan Sakai! I know that Usagi Yojimbo is a worthy fighter and strong warrior but dang (!) I wanna hug him! Probably get sliced in half for that sort of behavior but still...
Now, about the store! I joined the team at the Cartoon Art Museum in November of last year and have been on a geek girl high ever since. I am still building and growing the bookstore to properly encompass all that this genre is and can be. This has been a very exciting project utilizing my fine arts degree and years of retail/movie theater experience. I feel as though I have been training for this job for the past 20 years. It was so insanely worth it!
At the moment we carry a wide variety of illustrated art, sketch books, graphic novels, manga, cartoon strip, how to... you get the general idea. But the part that I find most exciting is the small press and self-published work that I am adding to our stock. We have a lot of local talent in this town and the surrounding areas and I want to celebrate that. We have a lot of pop culture items as well. The way I see it is that this genre is ours. The art of our time, our expressions, the result of all the masters that came before, the result of the camera and the motion picture. The result of people who needed to be heard. Needed a new voice to express the changing world around them. The need to laugh, cry and amaze others with your vision and dreams. Okay, now I am getting all soapbox and star eyed. I think that is were I end this post.
Until next time from Heather the book diva and her robot cat Toonces,
Snap, Crackle-POP!
